“Your offer can make a hero or a bum out of the finest, slickest string of words you’ve ever turned out.” - Eugene Schwartz
If I had a dollar for every copywriting “secret”
I’ve studied, heard, memorized, or forgotten over
the last nearly two decades… well… I’d probably
be broke.
A dollar isn’t a lot of money.
Frankly, those secrets that have amounted to
something — and not all of them do — have probably
parked, on average, several thousands or tens of
thousands of dollars into my account instead.
And for that, I’m eternally grateful. Especially
since most of those secrets were a gift from
somebody else.
But if there’s one “secret” I turn to more than any
other… and one I’d credit as the backbone of every
control I’ve ever written… can you guess what it
would be?
Nope, not the one about “writing good headlines” or
“knowing your customer.” Or the one about “always
write your pitch to someone you know.”
Though in the grand scheme, every one of those is
important. No, the one I use most is hardly a secret
at all.
WHAT MATTERS MOST IN EVERY SALES LETTER
No, the thing I start with… the thing that guides
everything else I’ll do, from the headline to the
proof to the sale letter’s “P.S.” copy… is the
simple, humble, often forgotten bit at the end…
the offer.
Let me back up a bit.
I’m sure you’ve heard before the little speech every
direct-response copywriter both receives and
delivers during his or her career.
It goes something like this…
In a direct-response business, three things make the
difference: Your list, your offer, and your copy.
Let me explain those terms.
The list, in case you don’t know, is the body of
people who will get to see or hear your pitch. In
the good old world of print mailings, that list
includes names, addresses, and maybe a little bit of
info like what they like to buy and how much they
like to spend, etc. Online, at the very least, it’s
usually an email address.
The offer we’ll focus on more in just a second. But
short and sweet, it’s what you’re selling and how
you’re selling it. As in, how much it will cost, how
it’s delivered, what guarantee or gifts come with
it, and so on.
And the copy, well… if you don’t know what “copy”
is at this point, you might need a more kid-friendly
kind of ezine (one with duller wit so you don’t put
an eye out)… but that’s what you and I are
supposed to write.
Even by the old logic, copy was/is the least
important of the three. Because without a good offer
or a good list to mail too, why bother?
However, copy was/is always the thing to focus your
energy on because it’s seen as the most flexible,
testable, and malleable.
But here’s the thing…
These days, what do many of us sell via direct
response marketing? Information products.
And if we’re not selling information products
directly, we’re often selling products backed by
company websites, email update lists, RSS feeds, and
more.
Point being that now more than ever, adding online
fulfillment to all or some of the products you’re
selling is now something you can do in a heartbeat,
without calling in the engineers, cranking up the
assembly line, or firing up the factory furnace.
That means offers can change just as quickly and
easily as headlines. And copywriters, not just
business owners or marketing execs, can suggest many
of those changes.
Bottom line: Offers have always mattered. A lot. But
now they may be much more important to your success
than they’ve ever been before.
The only slightly bad news is that a lot of
copywriters aren’t familiar with retooling sales
offers, simply because they haven’t done much of
that before.
The good news, however, is that learning how to
craft clever offers is not only something that’s
easily done… but it can be done in minutes.
And with huge results.
A BIG PAYOFF FOR NOT MUCH TIME OR ENERGY
Imagine. It can take you weeks or more to put the
polish on a perfect, brand-spankin’-new sales
letter.
And even then, it still might flop.
And then some punk comes along and adds the right
downloadable premium set… the right online
delivery mode or a deadline… or some audacious
guarantee or discount…
And suddenly you see your response rates jump
anywhere from 10% to 900%. Hardly sounds fair?
And yet, that’s what crafting the perfect offer can
often do. Granted, “perfect” is still elusive.
And no, you’ll never escape the need to come up with
fresh sales copy. And given that writing copy is
your job (or at least mine), that’s probably a
blessing.
Just the same, refining the offer before you do
anything else has a lot of benefits for you, the
writer.
And greater response rates are just part of the
benefit package I’m talking about.
For example, forget for a minute the most basic
truth that no sales letter exists that doesn’t have
an offer of some kind tacked on the back.
Instead remember what it is you’re forced to think
about when you write an offer in the first place.
When you answer that whole question, for instance,
of “what do my customers really want”… it’s in the
offer where you crystallize that answer into action.
When you consider what core emotion drives your
customer, you deliver in how you handle that
offer… by given your prospect resolution for those
powerful fears, desires, or other complex emotions.
When you consider what lead or what headline might
work, it’s that offer you’re aiming at — either
secretly, like the comedian who knows the punch line
to his joke, or explicitly, with a headline that
powerfully states what that offer might be.
Do copywriters ever start writing copy without any
idea of what they’ll offer in the end? Sure, lots of
them do. I have sometimes, too.
Usually because something else beyond my control
still needs working out, but the copy can’t wait any
longer for me to get started.
And yet, whenever that happens, I almost always get
the same scattered result. With copy that needs
thorough rewriting the moment the offer details come
through.
Iâ.’m thinking about all this, by the way, because I
just read through an advance copy of a new book by
CR friend and fellow copywriter, Bob Bly.
It’s called, precisely enough, “How to Create
Irresistible Offers: The Easiest Way on Earth to
Make Your Marketing Generate More Leads, Orders, and
Sales.”
No ambiguity there.
And in typical Bob fashion, it’s about as solid a
rundown of everything you can do to craft a powerful
new sales offer or spruce up a waning one.
Like I said, the book is just now coming out. So it
might be awhile yet before you can pick it up in
stores. And even longer before you’ll find it in a
library (remember libraries?).
I happen to know, though, that he’s going to release
it via a special deal via American Writers and
Artists Inc. (AWAI).
(I know because I just wrote a letter for them that
endorses it — and happily, because it’s that
thorough and good.)
You’ll get those details on how to order Bob’s book
soon enough. In the interim — and beyond — just
remember, when you don’t know where to start writing
a sales letter… go to the back and start from
there. I think you’ll be surprised at how handy and
lucrative a tip that will prove to be.
John Forde
Guest Contributor
———————
Over the last 19 years, John Forde’s direct-response
copy helped generate hundreds of millions of dollars
and has won him several awards, including AWAI’s
“Copywriter of the Year.” John has also mentored dozens
of successful writers and regularly helps lead copy
training programs in Europe and the U.S. You can get
more of his insights on copywriting free from his
website: www.copywritersroundtable.com
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